Biden surges in poll of Democrats, creating prospect of a competitive three-way race

Vice President Joe Biden, rapidly picking up support, is now first choice for president of 25 percent of America’s Democrats, according to a new nationwide Bloomberg Politics poll.

The survey raises the prospect of “a competitive three-way race for the Democratic presidential nomination,” Bloomberg concludes. It found 33 percent support for ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 25 percent of Democrats backing Biden and 24 percent supporting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent seeking the Democratic nomination.

Vice President Joe Biden. The decision to run in 2016 is in his hands. Photo by Gettty Images

Biden has spent the past month making soundings for what would be his third bid for the White House.

The vice president is still recovering from the death from brain cancer of his son and political heir apparent, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. He has been very public about not yet being at the point where he can fully, totally commit himself to the race.

Still, Biden has been rising in public esteem, while Clinton’s support and public approval has taken a severe hit. The longtime Democratic front-runner has been embroiled in controversy over use of a personal email server while serving as secretary of state. She has only recently begun to give serious interviews to news organizations.

Until recently, Biden had been registering in the 10-12 percent range when pollsters included him in surveys of the preference of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters.

The Bloomberg survey produced other revealing results:

–Clinton is better liked by women (74 percent) than men (64 percent) among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters. Biden’s favorability is “closer to gender neutral,” the pollster found, 81 percent with men and 79 percent with women.

–Bernie Sanders has been drawing huge crowds — 15,000 for an August rally at the UW’s Hec Edmundson Pavilion — and has moved ahead of Clinton in polls of New Hampshire voters. The Granite State hosts the nation’s first primary. However, Bloomberg found, “Sanders is still unknown to about one in three registered Democrats.”

–Among all voters, Bloomberg found, a plurality want Biden to enter the 2016 race. The poll asked: “Vice President Joe Biden is considering entering the Democratic race for president. Do you want Biden to enter the race, or prefer he stay out. Forty-seven said they want Biden to run, 37 percent want him to stay out, with the rest undecided or giving no opinion.

Biden ran in 2008, dropped out after the Iowa caucuses and was later tapped as President Obama’s running mate. He is now 72 years old, after a half-century political career that began when he was elected to the Senate from Delaware at the age of 29.

The Bloomberg poll was conducted Sept. 18-21, and included interviews with 1,001 adult Americans. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 3.1 percent, and 5.1 percent with Democrats.